Aston Villa v Hull City: Premier League match preview

Aston Villa go into their Saturday afternoon tilt with Hull hovering precariously above the drop zone and in a worse run of form than any of their fellow relegation-threatened rivals.

Paul Lambert’s side haven’t won in six games and the club has been mired in controversy too, with the suspension a fortnight ago of two of Lambert’s long-serving assistants. Lambert felt the wrath of the Villa fans after Jonjo Shelvey’s wonder goal helped Swansea to a 4-1 win last weekend, and the Scottish manager has perhaps unsurprisingly referred to Villa’s game this weekend as a cup final.

Fortunately for Villa, Hull may have one eye on their very own cup final, with their Wembley meeting with Arsenal only two weeks away. However it didn’t stop them from scuppering Fulham’s survival bid last weekend as they came from two goals down to draw 2-2.

A better omen for the West Midlands side may be that Hull haven’t managed a win over them in the last eight meetings between the two teams. In fact, Hull haven’t even scored a goal against Villa since 1987 – back when the two teams were playing in the old second division and Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ was top of the charts.

Hull meanwhile know that a point will all but guarantee their Premier League safety for another season.